British Council Wales held a special event at BBC’s Hoddinott Hall to celebrate international language learning with their Cerdd Iaith programme. They welcomed 100 school children from across Wales to sing with BBC’s National Orchestra of Wales and Chorus of Wales.
In an extra international dimension, musicians Lleuwen Steffan & Brieg Guerveno debuted a performance of Lleuwen’s song Aderyn / Lapous, sung in Welsh and Breton. The performance helped to highlight the power of music in connecting audiences with new languages and musical heritage, showcasing the links and similarities between Welsh and Breton heritage.Aderyn / Lapous is a bi-lingual Breton / Welsh song meaning "Bird". It plays with words that are similar, or the same in both Celtic languages, diving into the root of their meaning. The song is inspired by the old Breton saying "pep lapous e gan, pep pobl he yezh" (each bird has a song, each nation has a language). This duet marks the beginning of a new musical collaboration between Lleuwen Steffan, Brieg Guerveno and other musicians from Wales and Brittany.
Speaking about the debut performance at Hoddinott Hall, Lleuwen Seffan said:
“What a wonderful event to perform Aderyn / Lapous at for the first time. Today has been about the celebration of international languages through Cerdd Iaith, literally ‘the Music of Language’. Music can be a powerful way to build connections and open-up the world for people, particularly for children, and through the song, I want to explore the fun parallels between Welsh and Breton and highlight the connections between the two languages and cultures”.
Ruth Cocks, Director of British Council Wales spoke about the performance.
“Fantastic to have a debut performance of this beautiful new song in both Breton and Welsh. The perfect complement to celebrating Cerdd Iaith. At the heart of our work in British Council Wales, is creating global connections through the arts, and this collaboration is a shining example of some of the cultural connections being created between the two countries throughout this year of Wales in France”
British Council Cymru is working together with the Welsh Government, Wales Arts International and Arts Council Wales, for the Year of Wales in France, supporting a programme of education, arts and cultural activity for individuals and organisations across both countries to connect, develop relationships and create new work.
The Year of Wales in France will continue beyond 2023 with the upcoming British Council France cultural season in UK-France Spotlight on Culture 2024 also to feature many Wales-France cultural collaborations.
About the artists
Lleuwen Steffan is a singer, songwriter and composer. She won the Welsh folk Award for best contemporary song for her Welsh song Bendigeidfran and won the Liet International award for best song with Breton song Ar Goulou Bev. She has more recently been composing for drama including the film Ki Ma Mamm for Kalanna / FR3 Bretagne, Byd Dan Eira for Theatr Bara Caws and Louise des Ours for Teatr Piba / Radio Kerne.
Brieg Guerveno writes and sings in Breton. His most recent album " 'Vel Ma Vin" has been received with much success, and it brings out a more mystical, folky to his work. It took him four prior albums to get rid of the rock fury that was within him. "Vel Ma Vin" has been awarded best album in the 2021 Priziou Awards for FR3 Bretagne as well as best album produced in Brittany in the same year.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Rosalind Gould, British Council: +44 (7770 934953 E: rosalind.gould@britishcouncil.org
To find out more about the British Council’s work in Wales visit https://wales.britishcouncil.org/ or follow won Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.